Tough way to ban the festival of buffalo fighting in India

The ban on races and cattle fighting in India often faces
protests from people and many festivals are still taking place informally.

In January every year, thousands of people in southern
India, mostly young people, took to the streets to protest to lift the ban on
the organization of the Jallikattu bull and bull festival.

In 2016, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that all races or
competitions using animals were banned. Earlier, in 2014, the Court also
directly banned Jallikattu.

However, the Jallikattu festival still takes place in Tamil
Nadu state earlier this year and attracts thousands of followers. In the same
month and more than 3,000 km away, buffalo fights also took place “secretly”
in the state of Assam.

Backing animal protection organizations is prohibited

Jallikattu is a festival with thousands of years of history
in southern India. On the festive season, the buffaloes and cows will be bound
and confined to agitation. When the door opens, crazy “buffalo” runs
out, festival participants will try to tame them by holding the buffalo hump
for as long as possible.

From 2008 to 2014, the Jallikattu festival was once allowed under special conditions and under the supervision of the Indian Animal Rights Commission. Investigations during this time showed that the organizers did not take any measures to protect animals from abuse or ensure the safety of participants.

Buffaloes are beaten, dragged, jumped on themselves. On the
human side, according to First Post statistics, from 2010 to 2014, at least 17
people were killed and 1,100 injured when participating in domesticated
buffaloes and buffaloes at the Jallikattu festival.

But the 2014 Supreme Court’s ban did not work. The
bull-and-cow festival is still taking place and protests in the state of Tamil
Nadu earlier this year led the state governor to issue an executive order to
eliminate Jallikattu from the scope of the Cruelty to Animals Act of India.

The governor’s decree was passed by the Tamil Nadu state
parliament and received the support of the prime minister, paving the way for
pure buffalo festivals to continue from now on.

Protests against the Jallikattu ban in Tamil Nadu state

However, the protesters were still not satisfied, they
requested a legal measure to secure the future for Jallikattu and even demanded
a ban on animal protection organization PETA in India.

A local official also admitted that the ban was not easy
when it was a tradition of the people.